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| Woman in Nagaland healed of Tuberculosis |
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| One of the memories that is forever etched in my soul of this trip is actually seeing a woman get healed and come off of her deathbed. She was dying of tuberculosis and our team was brought to her home to pray for her. When we arrived she was so weak that she could barely talk. In addition to ministering healing to her, we discerned that she needed to be released from the hold of evil spirits. Her healing and deliverance was one of the most demonstrative miracles that I have ever seen! It was evident when the spirits left and we then finished our ministry time with her. Moments later, she arose from her bed and walked, without assistance, out of her bedroom to join us over lunch, praising and thanking God! Talk about joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
Another highlight for me was the time spent ministering to the inmates at the Kohima jail in Nagaland. Remember the words of Jesus, “I was in prison and you came unto me.” What a privilege it was to visit Him in Kohima. My sister Peggy ministered salvation in the first session and I would guess that 90% of those who came stood for salvation! Only a move of God can bring that kind of an amazing response. Then, in the second session, I taught on their new identity as sons of God and the need to break the power of shame (an obvious stronghold in jails), culminating in the infilling of the Holy Spirit. What a sweet, sweet time of new beginnings that was!
Probably the ultimate joy for me was when I had the opportunity to minister at a very large church—the joy is not in how large the church was, but in what happened there. I felt led to teach on the scripture, “Lest you be born again, ye shall not see the kingdom of God,” explaining the concept of being born into the kingdom of God through the new birth. This was completely new to them. They had only understood that to be a Christian meant to go to a church that was Christian instead of Hindu. At least 650 people stood to receive salvation, and according to the interpreter, about 20% of them were leadership and deacons of long-standing! One man testified later that he had been in a Christian church all of his life, but had never understood the true meaning of Christianity until that day.
Oh, I must tell you about another amazing thing—we had an angelic visitation, apparently to ensure our safety. We were traveling overnight on a train across India. (We later learned that it is quite dangerous for women because of sexual molestation, but we were protected as you will soon read.) As my sister Peg and I were settling into our sleeping berths for the night, we noticed a man sitting across the aisle from us. He was very unusual, and somehow seemed to cause us to feel peaceful about his presence so close to us, even though he was a stranger. Later, when we tried to discuss this stranger with the other two members of our team, they both insisted that there was no one sitting in that seat. After much discussion, and with more than a little amazement, we finally realized that Peggy and I were the only two who saw “the peaceful stranger” who made us feel peaceful, sitting no more than two feet away from where we slept safely.
After crossing the border into Nepal, we rented vehicles to drive to Katmandu. Late in the afternoon, we stopped for gas and snacks. Suddenly, Ranjit, our contact pastor, felt a strong urging that we should stop for the night—that it would not be safe for us to continue. Within an hour of checking into a hotel, we learned that the Maoists had seized the highway all the way back to the border, as well as all the way to Katmandu. The only holdout was the town in which we had chosen to stop! A bus that was traveling in front of us kept going when we stopped, and we learned that it was apprehended and burned. A strict curfew prohibited us from being out after 8:00. We were told that even to step out onto the front balcony of the hotel would be grounds to be shot.
Two days later the roads were opened again and we were able to continue on our way—getting to Kathmandu just in time to preach at the weekly church service! After this, we left the relative sophistication and safety of Kathmandu for the rural areas where two conferences had been planned. This was very risky, because we traveled to the heart of the Maoist rebel movement. Right before we were scheduled to leave the States, we got word that the American government had pulled all of our people out of the Embassy in Nepal, leaving only emergency personnel. The Peace Corps also pulled out because of the violence being propagated by the Maoists. We sought the Lord as to His will for our trip and He spoke to us that we were to go in His peace and His provision and that we were to tread lightly, but that He would open the way. We continually saw the fulfillment of this as we were daily protected from almost constant danger.
The two conferences were such a heart-warming joy because we brought encouragement to people who have been living in extremely difficult circumstances for so long. There is such poverty in the rural areas, and then when you add the persecution for professing Christ, I stand in awe of the tenacity and steadfastness of these precious brothers and sisters of ours. And many new people were added to the Kingdom, and to our family!
We had plenty of excitement as we got word that the Maoists were on the move and planned to close off our exit route. By God’s grace and providence, we got word in time to flee in the night and escape being trapped. But God had kept us safe, and that town did not fall into Maoist hands. The Lord ministered His peace to us and we knew Him as Jehovah Shalom.
Then, we “left the ninety and nine and turned aside for the one.” Donning our backpacks, we hiked for two hours into the Himalayan Mountains to reach a tiny house church. We literally went where no vehicles can go, following a footpath that crossed streams with no bridges, and seeing some amazing scenery (including spiders the size of dinner plates)! What a joy it was to minister to those precious brothers and sisters, and see two Hindus get born again. Then we turned around and hiked out again, needing to get back by nightfall. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live.
In summary, this was another trip of extremes—from one end of the spectrum to the other in every area. I was gone 28 days, during which time I traveled approximately 26,000 miles, on everything from motorcycles to airplanes. During that time, our team preached in a tent and in a beautiful church with stained glass windows, and everything in between! We taught at the largest Bible College in Nagaland, and ministered at the jail. The crowds ranged in size from 1,000 in a large church to 25 in a remote village house church, or one family at a time in a private setting. We saw well over a thousand people get born again and hundreds were filled with the Holy Ghost. We saw dramatic healings and dramatic deliverances. We ministered to the rich and to the homeless. We ministered to children and to officials in the government. And, as always, God has done great things within each of us who went. All in all, I am privileged to come home and give God all the glory, for great things He has done!!
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